I was able to gather some great
information regarding the equity and excellence of early care and education this
week from The Child Care Aware of America Website (formally NACCRRA, the
National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral). In fact, there was a new report posted on
April 11, 2013, regarding how state laws are failing to maintain quality and
protect children in child care centers across the nation based on information
gathered from the organization’s We Can
Do Better: 2013 Update. In this report, Dr. Lynette M. Fraga, Executive
Director of Child Care Aware of America, states: “Families
want their children to be safe in child care. They reasonably assume that a child
care license means the state has approved some minimum level of protection for
children and that the program will promote their healthy development. Our
nationwide polling shows that parents also believe there is oversight by the
state. However, most state licensing
requirements are weak and oversight is weaker.”
The report finds that while
some states have improved their child care policies since Child Care Aware® of
America’s last center update in 2011, state policies still vary widely in
oversight and quality guidelines. For example, only 13 states require
comprehensive background checks. Nine states do not require any type
of inspection at least once a year. California inspects child care centers
once every five years. Overall, the ten
top-scoring states earned a “C” grading, twenty-one states earned a “D” and the
remaining states earned a failing grade.
The training requirements
and education of early childhood teachers also varies widely across the nation. As Fraga illustrates: “The key to quality
child care is a strong child care workforce.
The most concerning part of weak training requirements is that in so
many states, the minimum education level required of staff is low. This makes
training critical to ensure the safety and well-being of children." However, the report showed only 16 states
addressed each of 10 basic health requirements and 10 basic safety requirements
recommended by pediatric experts and only 21 states require training in child
development.
Dr. Fraga argues, “Quality
programs make a real difference for children.
However, it’s hard to have a quality program with little training for
staff and infrequent oversight. The
result is what we have today: a large gap between what parents reasonably
assume and expect, and the reality of state policies.”
The recommendations that
Child Care Aware of America make to Congress to strengthen the Child Care and
Development Block Grant (part of the $10 billion in federal funds spend on
child care every year) are:
* Require background checks based on fingerprints and a
check of the child abuse registry and sex offender registry for all child care
providers paid to care for unrelated children.
* Require states to establish minimum health and safety
requirements and enforce them through regular unannounced inspections of all
licensed child care programs.
* Require states to post inspection findings on the
internet so that parents can make informed choices.
* Require all child care workers to have at least 40 hours
of initial training (including CPR, first-aid and other basic health and safety
training in addition to child development) and complete 24 hours of annual
training.
* Authorize the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) to withhold funding from states that do not require minimum
protections for children and that do not conduct regular unannounced
inspections of child care settings.
* Require emergency plans so that children are safe during
times of natural disaster or crises.
* Increase the quality set-aside under CCDBG to 12 percent,
gradually increasing to 25 percent, on par with Head Start.
Child
Care Aware of America April 11, 2013 Press Release: http://www.naccrra.org/news-room/press-releases/2013/4/report-state-child-care-laws-fail-to-protect-children
We Can
Do Better: 2013 Update: http://www.naccrra.org/node/3025
Collett I have read about this somewhere before and I find it so ridiculous that only 13 states requires background checks for childcare providers. All of the child abusers, child molesters and registered and unregistered sex offenders in the world and we choose not to check the people we put in charge of caring for our most precious assets in the world, our children. Yeah, I know we are improving when it comes to the access and quality of childcare, but background checks should have already been in place years ago. I’m quite sure money is reason. I’ll read more on this topic so that I can find out the rationale as to why only 13 states are performing comprehensive background check. Thanks for the website and added information.
ReplyDeleteCollett,
ReplyDeleteI got hold of the Child Care Aware of America (Resources and Referral) for my state of Arizona prior to your blog post and upon reading it, I found it completely appalling in the quality of care most children have to placed in. Especially during this economic times there seems to be more parents who have no choice but to place their child(ren) in unlicensed of poor quality care.The recommendations that Child Care Aware has recommeded needs to be put in place for all early childhood care and services. I would not want to place my son in the hands of below mediocre care. This was a wake up call for me in reading this report. It is something I am sharing with other parents :,(
I really enjoyed reading you blog this week. Your information went right along with this weeks lesson. I especially enjoyed reading your suggestions.
ReplyDelete